Who Got Snubbed by the Golden Globes?

Clearly the Golden Globes’ addiction to the new and the hot in television has cost James Gandolfini and The Sopranos their richly deserved nominations, but who cares? The show won its Emmy, and now it’s time to move on. Where the Globes really can have an impact is in the Oscar race; its separate awards for Drama and Comedy — and its predilection for picking, say, seven nominees when it just can’t decide — mean that if you’re left out of the Globe race, you may well be out of the running for Oscars entirely.

So who saw their gold-plated dream crumble into dust this morning in the hands of Hayden Panetierre?

The Savages and Laura Linney. One of David Edelstein’s favorite movies of the year gets the shaft; even though its producers slummed it in the Best Comedy category, it still couldn’t get nominated. And Laura Linney was shunned as well. Only Philip Seymour Hoffman picked up a nomination, one of his two for the day.

Into the Wild. Sean Penn’s heartfelt film got a bit of a bump earlier this week when the Broadcast Film Critics Association put it on their Best Picture list, but the Globe shutout means it’s likely D.O.A. despite Penn’s active campaigning. Only supporting actor Hal Holbrook still has a shot, with the kind of crusty-old-man performance that’s lost on the Globes and like catnip to Oscar.

Margot at the Wedding. Poor reviews doomed Noah Baumbach’s family dramedy early, but many still thought Jennifer Jason Leigh and the Globes’ favorite daughter, Nicole Kidman, might get nominations. They didn’t, and they’re out.

The Kite Runner. As an adroit commenter pointed out yesterday, it wasn’t eligible for Best Picture and did get a nomination for Foreign Language Film. But the shutout in other categories doesn’t bode well.

American Gangster’s supporting players. The film got a Best Picture nom and Denzel is up for Actor, but touted co-stars Russell Crowe and Ruby Dee were passed over.

Knocked Up. We thought for sure this is where Knocked Up would shine; what’s a Comedy award for, if not to reward the best-reviewed and most successful comedy of the year? Apparently, it’s to reward quasi-musicals like Across the Universe, quasi-comedies like Charlie Wilson’s War, or quasi-movies like Hairspray. We had this whole plan about how Knocked Up would get six Globe nominations, leading to a groundswell of support for it as a Best Picture Oscar pick, which of course wouldn’t happen but maybe Judd Apatow could get a screenplay nod out of it. Sigh.